Jun

17th

Adobe terms and conditions

1: The terms are 280 pages long and you need a PDF reader to read them, which means you’ve already agreed to their terms before you’ve read them, which they can amend, so they had your soul before you started.

2: I have no idea how many languages the terms are in – but many are hieroglyphics to me. On the plus side, at least in version 10.1 all the languages seem to be there… in the last version, have the langauges had one line errors. It’s hard enough to get TWO languages to mean the same thing – but 20-30? Er… no.

3: Being obliged to accept terms online before installing a product has never been successfully tested in court (at least, not in the UK). At this point, I am pretty sure any sane judge would throw out any case brought against an individual. A case brought against a company MIGHT stick, but you know what, I doubt it.

4: A contract in the UK cannot be made under duress. Now I am pretty sure that when you are forced to tick a box in the middle of a day’s work – when you are expected to be working for your boss instead of reading 280 pages of foreign language, a judge would say that these kinds of contracts are systemically made under duress. Right now (I am not a lawyer!) I would say that very few are made with informed consent.

5: Did I mention the contract is 280 pages long? You’ve already agreed to it if you have the latest flasplayer on your system. If you have the older version, you agreed to about 269 pages. Hey – if you have an average Internet browser, you’ve agreed to something.

6: By agreeing to the 280 pages, you also agree in section 1.3 to hundreds of other separate license agreements – some of which may include demanding that you shoot your mother for all we can tell. They are listed at http://www.adobe.com/products/eula/third_party/

7: The agreement also refers and links to dozens, if not hundreds of other URLs – many of which are not on Adobe.com and therefore subject to change or deletion without notice.

It’s a joke. But not that funny. Who hired the bloody lawyers? Sack every single one and limit agreements to things we can digest.

See for yourself if you really want to be as sad as me at http://www.adobe.com/products/eulas/pdfs/PlatformClients_PC_WWEULA_Combined_20100108_1657.pdf

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Dixon Jones set up Receptional in 1999. As one of the founding fathers of the search engine marketing industry, Dixon regularly participates as a public speaker at major internet conferences around the world including SMX; SES and Pubcon.